Goodwood 2010 preview

Festival time. This weekend Lord March will, for the 18th year, open the gates of his Sussex estate for four days of high-octane excitement, as the car industry and racing fraternity commune at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Moving Motor Show.

It doesn’t matter whether you drive a sports car, a classic or a bog standard family hatch; whether you spend your weekends competing in motorsport or just watching, whether you collect supercars, racing drivers’ autographs or both, whether you’re more interested in new road-going performance metal, or 40-year-old racers... there will be treats in generous number for you, and hundreds of thousands of like-minded fans, at Goodwood this weekend.

A special display of some 50 museum classics will mark Alfa Romeo’s centenary. Supercars, superbikes, concept cars, rare classics and unforgettable motorsport machinery will all be taking to the hill – among them McLaren’s new MP4-12C supercar.

And, if you’re interested in changing your own car, Thursday’s Moving Motor Show will be right up your street, because, as part of it, car makers will be handing out test drives to members of the public.

If you’re looking for reasons to go, Messrs Sutcliffe, Goodwin and Bremner have listed their personal top ten, which you can read by clicking the links above – and there are plenty more besides. Visit goodwood.co.uk/festival-of-speed and make your own top ten. We’ll see you there.

I'd actually forgotten about the FoS. This morning I opened a mountain of mail I'd been neglecting, including what looked like a circular from The Times. 'Congratulations: you've won two tickets for the Goodwood Festival of Speed.'